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St. Paul Chamber Orchestra balances budget for 7th straight year

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra has balanced its budget for the 7th consecutive year.

SPCO officials say balancing the $11 million budget took a lot of sacrifice, including a 17 percent reduction in administration staff, pay reductions of 10 percent for senior management and 12 percent for the musicians, and the cancelling of a planned Europeon tour.

SPCO President Sarah Lutman said the economy continues to present challenges in this fiscal year, but the orchestra is confident it will meet them.

"We don't start our plans by figuring out how we're going to deal with our debt," Lutman said. "We start our plans by our optimism for the future by our passion for our art form, and the all the ways that we will be able to grow as the economy grows.

Lutman says subscription ticket sales dropped by 3 percent last year, but ticket sales overall were very close to the previous year's record high.